Deep Dive with Summer Gathercole, Senior Advisor for Behavioral Health Transformation, Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS)

When the Behavioral Health Task Force presented its Blueprint for Reform to Governor Polis, one of its top recommendations included the creation of a Behavioral Health Administration (BHA). The BHA will ensure a standard of high-quality, integrated, people-first behavioral health care that’s accessible to all Coloradans. A bill will be introduced in the 2021 legislative session, sponsored by Representative Young, Representative Pelton, and Senator Fields that directs the Colorado Department of Human Services to develop a plan for the creation of the BHA. Read the bill draft here. We will briefly review the bill draft in our meeting on Friday and look forward to a productive discussion. Other stakeholder meetings can be found on the Behavioral Health Reform (BHR) webpage, and there is also a survey for people who prefer to give feedback in that format: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HFJFD7Q. Finally, a general update on our BHR efforts are here.